At the end of third grade, Amber is excited about her trip with her aunt to London and Paris, where she will see her father again, but her plans change when she comes down with chicken pox.
Getting fed up when her room falls into shambles, her homework is late, and her mother begins to date someone, a frustrated Amber Brown wishes that someone would give her a little credit.
The year that she is in the fourth grade is a difficult one for Amber, as she tries to deal with escalating telephone fights between her divorced parents and her father's impending return to take joint custody of her.
Nine-year-old Amber Brown faces further complications because of her parents' divorce when her father plans to move back from Paris and she must decide which parent she will be with on Thanksgiving.
Because her divorced parents share joint custody of her, nine-year-old Amber suffers from lack of self-esteem and feels that she is a piece of jointly-owned property.
